The present disclosure is concerned with a unit for providing assistance and/or services to a patient on a patient support apparatus such as a bed (whether a hospital bed or a long term care (LTC) bed), or chair. Patients (and/or their caregivers) in such environments require access to a number of different functionalities for comfort, entertainment and/or care. For example, the patient in a LTC bed and/or his caregiver is likely to require access to some if not all of the following near the bed:                a patient lifting system to life the patient into and out of the bed,        a display screen,        an overbed table,        a bedside cabinet with storage space,        an egress bar to help the patient move in the bed, and/or egress from the bed,        a bedside light,        an intravenous (IV) drip pole, and/or        an electrical socket.        
Most of these functionalities are provided by separate units located in the room near the bed. A long term care (LTC) or hospital bed may be surrounded by at least the following separate units: a wall-mounted screen, a patient lifting cradle, a zimmer frame or other walking and bed egress aid, a drug storage and dispensing trolley, an IV (intravenous) pole and a bedside cabinet for the patient to store his/her possessions. This takes up significant amounts of space and therefore has clear cost, convenience and accessibility implications. Space is at a premium and often expensive in a hospital or other care facility; the provision of a number of different units takes up space and increases cost as well as making it awkward for a care giver to access the patient and clean around the various units.
GB 1,232,649 discloses a bed side cabinet including storage drawers. U.S. Pat. No. 8,348,211 discloses a ceiling mounted medical supply unit, and US 2006/0016014 discloses apparatus for supporting a patient during repositioning in the bed.
US 2006/0016014 discloses a system for supporting an individual during repositioning including a first substantially vertical shaft with a square cross-section fixed or fixable in position relative to the patient support apparatus, a shaft fixing for fixing the first shaft in position relative to the patient support apparatus; a second substantially vertical shaft with a square cross-section arranged around, coupled to and moveable in a vertical direction relative to the first shaft, and an actuator element connecting the first and second shafts for controllably moving the second shaft relative to the first shaft.